Never the End
by LiraEllesar
Summary: After defeating Aizen, Ichigo falls, severely wounded. A one-shot depicting his battle for life. Rated T for angst, much blood and a pretty descriptive surgery. If you think it should go back to being M, PM me. Thanks! R&R!


**Hey there! Changed my name awhile ago to get out of past stuff. I deleted this a long while ago, but I wanted to re-upload it. ^^ Soooo yeah. This is basically just a one-shot. If you have any questions, either review or send me a PM. I'd gladly answer anything. :) Please enjoy and review your thoughts.**

* * *

><p>Never the End<p>

"ICHIGO!" Isshin roared, lunging forward until Byakuya caught his shoulders, holding him fast. The squad 6 Captain looking at the scene with a pale, blood smeared face, features contorted in sorrow.

"There is nothing you can do, brother." Byakuya muttered, his jaw clenched.

"NO! ICHIGO!" Isshin bellowed, hot tears falling down his face uncontrollably, fighting against Byakuya to get to Ichigo's side. "MY SON! MY SON!"

A sharp voice cut through the air, making Isshin react as if he had been stricken, the onlookers eyes widening. "Stop." Hibachi leaned over Ichigo's damaged body, the boy trying to form words through the excruciating pain.

It grew intensely silent as everyone inched forward to try and hear the words, a breath of a whisper leaving Ichigo's blood caked lips. "_D . . .dad . . ._" Isshin's eyes widened, tears still streaming down his face, Byakuya still holding his shoulders tight. The next words nearly stopped his heart, "_I . . .I'm s . . .sorry . . ._"

"No . . ." Isshin murmured, and his heart leapt up to his throat at what happened next.

Ichigo had been heaving for breath not a few moments ago, but it had slowed considerably, Ichigo's eyes mere slits now. The wound in his chest oozed blood with each faint heartbeat, and dried blood encrusted his chin and down his neck.

"_Sorry . . ._" Ichigo's eyes drifted shut, his body relaxed, and the ghost of his last breath left his cracked lips.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Isshin screamed, piercing the silence. Tears were running freely down everyone's faces now, not even Hibachi could hold them back. "MY SON! MY SON! ICHIGO!" He finally broke free of Byakuya's grasp, stumbling forward and falling heavily to his knees next to his son. "_Ichigo_." Isshin's throat completely closed as a sob wracked his body.

He reached down with trembling hands, wrapping his arms around Ichigo's limp body, hugging him as close as he could, moaning over and over, _"My son, my son, my son . . ."_ He bent his head down, touching his forehead to Ichigo's, weeping.

People openly shed tears, some falling to their knees, or clinging to each other in intense sorrow. Voices called into the air Ichigo's name, crying for him, thanking him. In that moment, all were equal. Power didn't matter. Rank, abilities, names, everything. The loss of such a great man, of a friend, of a _son _brought them together on the same level.

Hibachi let quiet tears fall down his face. _This . . . this hurts more than Arrin . . ._ The squad 3 Captain admitted to himself, hunching over and crying in earnest into his hands.

"_Wait."_ Hasu muttered to Hibachi, his zanpakutô sounding just as grief stricken as Hibachi, but a bit more level headed. _"There's something not . . . not right . . ." _He trailed off as Hibachi looked up, his bright blue eyes glistening as he observed Ichigo. Not what was on the outside, but . . .

Hibachi's heart thumped against his chest as he leapt up, bellowing for Isshin to move aside.

"Isshin! Set him down!" Hibachi called urgently, his voice strained and cheeks still tearstained.

Looking hurt, but questioning, he set his son down ever so carefully, and Hibachi pressed his palm to Ichigo's cold forehead.

"_No way . . ._" Hibachi muttered fiercely, and immediately tore off Ichigo's kimono and kosode, bearing his mangled front. The crowd recoiled, and Isshin whimpered lightly, but he regained his voice.

"What's going on, Hibachi?"

"I . . . I don't know. Something's not right . . ." He answered, copying Hasu's observation. "I need to make a perimeter. Isshin. Stay by his side. He needs you . . ." Hibachi went to work creating a sterile mat around Ichigo in which he could work without the fear of infection or anything else.

Those outside of the perimeter looked on questioningly, but still sobbing and crying. Not even someone as strong as Ichigo could survive the terrible wounds that had been afflicted . . .

He returned to see Isshin clutching Ichigo's limp hand, staring into his face as if he'd wake up any moment. Laying a hand on the man's shoulder, he muttered, "This won't be pretty, Isshin."

Not taking his eyes off Ichigo's face, he replied, "I won't leave him." Hibachi nodded silently, and then kneeled next to Ichigo opposite Isshin.

Stretching his hand out to the side, he summoned many things: Surgical tools, a human heart monitor, gauze, a tube with an oxygen tank, and finally, a large, 3x3x3 foot hunk of adamantine.

He inserted the breathing tube down Ichigo's throat, and hooked it up to the oxygen tank, but didn't turn it on yet. He pulled off the plastic on the electrodes, sticking them on Ichigo's upper chest, and turning on the small portable heart monitor. They looked at the small screen eagerly as it booted up.

The green lights flashed, but the two lines did not spike at all. No heart beat . . .

"_No . . ._" Isshin broke down again, hanging his head and pressing Ichigo's hand to his face as he wept.

Hibachi tightened his jaw, on the verge of breaking himself . . . _"That doesn't matter. It doesn't show what's really going on. Do it."_Hasu said quickly, urging Hibachi into motion.

He shook himself, and swiftly began to wipe the drying blood from Ichigo's torso, observing an intense bruise already forming around the damaged site of where Aizen's blade had penetrated the boy's body.

The entry wound was larger than it should have been, but the size was from when Ichigo pushed the blade into himself in those final moments of Aizen's life. His eyes tightening, Hibachi reached for a scalpel and began his work.

He needed a larger area to work with, so he had to extend the entrance wound, cutting through the layers of skin down to just a few inches above Ichigo's belly button. Blood seeped quietly from the cuts, and Hibachi reached for some clamps, pulling back the skin to bare Ichigo's internal organs.

Isshin couldn't look. He knew what Hibachi was doing, but he simply couldn't . . . It was like an autopsy. Sobs continued to wrack his body as Ichigo's hand just grew colder, lifeless . . .

Hibachi took a deep breath at the sight, this surgery taking a deeper toll on him than when Ichigo had died after Grimmjow's attack. That wound was gruesome, but this . . . Hibachi shook his head. This just held a weight that he couldn't identify.

The squad 3 Captain reached for the adamantine, the metal distorting like water as he touched it, a chunk following his hand as he melded it to a part of Ichigo's intestines that had been destroyed by the blade. He repaired Ichigo's stomach wall, his right lung, six ribs, and his lower sternum.

Hibachi took extreme care with each, pulling the metal tight to the existing organs so no gaps would occur and both metal and skin could adhere to each other. The only thing was . . .

_Nothing is happening._

"_Close him up."_ Hasu instructed, and Hibachi did so. He made the stitching as close together as he could, overlapping the skin to look like he hadn't even gone inside. The only drawback was that the skin around the wound was bruising horribly.

A deep purple spread around the stab wound, tendril like laces spreading up to Ichigo's chest and down to his abdomen. Hibachi looked away in horror at the terrible reaction. There was nothing he could do to stop it . . .

He glanced hopefully to the heart monitor, but the green line stayed stubbornly flat.

"_Come on._" Hibachi muttered intensely, and he reached over to allow the oxygen to begin filling Ichigo's lungs, in and out. He stared at the monitor, yet even after ten minutes, nothing . . .

He felt Hasu stir with uneasiness, which only made Hibachi more on edge. Isshin still had not looked up, his hand cradling Ichigo's head.

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, looking on, waiting for something to happen. Years seemed to pass as they stood there, some sitting down right outside of the perimeter, others pacing back and forth with burning apprehension, praying that somehow, Hibachi's frantic hunch was right . . .

After three hours, Hibachi was losing it quick. His faith that Hasu's notion meant something was now quickly falling away to despair, and tears began forming again in the Captain's eyes.

Isshin had not stopped crying. He was cradling Ichigo's body again, stroking his long orange locks lovingly as the crystal tears dropped to his lifeless cheek.

Again, all seemed lost. The crowed outside the perimeter felt this, and the wailing and sobbing grew louder as the moments passed.

Unexpectedly, a short, piercing sound filled the air, creating a shockwave that ripped at everyone's clothes. They shielded their faces from the flying debris, then looked up in awe as a thin beam of shining silver light shot straight down from the cloudy sky, penetrating Ichigo's chest.

A great, rocketing explosion shook the area, a flash of the same color silver sonic booming hugely, knocking back Isshin, Hibachi, and everyone else at least 50 feet.

They landed roughly, but stood abruptly, looking on hopefully, yet with fear. _This . . . this feeling._ Hibachi thought, scrutinizing the scene as it played out before him. _This is not reiatsu. It doesn't feel like anything at all . . . But how could it be so powerful?_

The dust began to clear, and they gasped.

The silver light was transparent, pulsing out like a dome from Ichigo's body every other moment. No one dared get close, the air prickling with energy, almost like electricity.

Abruptly, the silver light collapsed into itself, and the silver beam of light retracted into the sky, creating a small clear circle of where it parted the clouds.

Ichigo lay motionless where they had been blown away from him, and rushed forward. The heart monitor had been smashed to pieces, the oxygen tank crushed like it was made of tin. Frowning intensely, Hibachi removed the breathing tube from Ichigo's mouth, and took the electrodes from his chest, tossing the useless instruments aside.

No one said a thing, their spark of hope from the silver light quickly being snuffed out again.

"_Wait."_ Hasu repeated. _"Do you feel that?"_

Hibachi swung his gaze to Ichigo's face, focusing. And . . . it was there. The faint, so very fragile pulse of his life force making itself known. He reached out, gripping Isshin's shoulder tightly, the man's eyes growing wide.

Words stuck in his throat, his emotion about to take the better of him as Ichigo's life force grew, however so slightly.

"He's alive." Hibachi choked, overcome with joy. Isshin quickly pressed two of his fingers to Ichigo's neck, feeling for the vein that would prove he was. He twitched, his hand falling back limply.

His gaze was dead as he looked to Hibachi, "There's . . . still no pulse." He ground out, beginning to tremble.

"But . . ." Hibachi replied, breathlessly perplexed. _His life force is definitely growing stronger, even if it is by infinitesimal amounts . . . How can he not have a heartbeat?_

The question resounded in his mind like a bad dream. _This can't be happening . . ._

Then it hit him. The answer, so obvious, so _stupidly obvious!_

Hibachi shot to his feet, his face gleaming with hope as he smiled uncontrollably. "He's not dead." He said confidently, looking down to Isshin who had met his gaze, bewildered. "Don't you remember? After Grimmjow . . . the ability he gained?" Isshin's eyes split wide, and he turned quickly, bending over Ichigo's prone form, searching for the truth in Hibachi's words.

"He won't begin to show signs of life for a long while yet, Isshin . . . His ability over death takes a very serious toll on his body." Hibachi took a deep breath. "His ability . . . it keeps him from dying unless he chooses it in the few moments he has to decide, at . . . at the crossroads, or something close to that. If he chooses death, he will go on like any soul that dies."

"But if not . . .?" Byakuya found his voice, looking ever paler, but hopeful at Hibachi's revelation.

"Then . . ." Hibachi sighed, wincing slightly. "He becomes barely a hair's breadth away from dying, his body completely shutting down to protect his mind . . ." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I'm guessing now, but this reaction gives whoever's near the chance to repair him, as I've done. We possibly only just began to feel his life force because of that. It was so minute before that we believed he was dead . . ."

"He's alive." Isshin said again, new tears of joy rolling down his face. He reached out, stroking Ichigo's cheek with the back of his fingers. "My son . . ." Isshin whispered tenderly.

The soft murmur of shunpo sounded behind then, and Captain Unohana stepped forward, placing a gentle hand on Isshin's shoulder. "We should move him to Captain Nakuno's facilities. Keeping him in this place will not aid in his healing." She said softly, as if talking to a child.

Isshin nodded, and ever so carefully pushed his hands under Ichigo's shoulders and knees, picking up his son and holding him close. Ichigo's head rested on his father's upper arm, his left arm dangling down.

Finished situating, Isshin went into a low level shunpo, following Unohana to the squad 3 infirmary, the others following close behind.

Hibachi stayed behind a moment, looking over the battle grounds. _Where . . .?_

"_They are gone . . ."_ Hasu replied to the unfinished question.

Reeling slightly, Hibachi choked back aloud, "_What!_"

"_The last move Ichigo used was called 'The Final Getsuga'. It was an ability that channeled every bit of his power into a single, devastating attack. Just look at what it did to the area, not to mention Ichimaru . . ."_

Hibachi gazed the massive gouge in the earth, stretching for at least mile, thinking for a moment that he was glad he wasn't on the other end of that attack when it was released . . .

"But what does that have to do with . . ."

"_By expending all of his power at once, Ichigo gave up his Shinigami powers. That means Zangetsu and Reion . . . they are gone."_ Hasu explained, sorrow rising in his voice.

"Gone . . ." Hibachi repeated, struggling disbelief in his voice. _Gave up . . . he . . . he sacrificed everything for us . . . for all of us._ He squeezed his eyes shut, awash with emotion again. His chest ached with grief at what Ichigo had given, _given_ to save them. He said goodbye to his closest friends, to _his soul_, to save them. _Shit . . ._

"_There is nothing we can do. No one can . . . Ichigo decided this on his own. It . . ."_ Hasu seemed to lose himself then, retreating from the first layer his mind to be by himself. Hibachi felt his entire being swell with sorrow in response to Hasu, his heart pounding painfully in his chest.

Looking up at the grey sky, something wet hit his face just above his right cheekbone. Then his forehead, his chin . . . and it began to rain.

_How fitting . . ._ Hibachi thought sadly, squeezing his eyes shut. With a flicker of shunpo, he left the bloodied battleground to the hope that was still alive.

"He's alive."

_Again we see it,_

_The rain._

_Quietly, so quietly it falls,_

_Respectful, mournful, joyful._

_In pain and sorrow,_

_In wonder and happiness,_

_It comes._

_How fitting it fall,_

_In the best and worst times._

_How fitting that it respond_

_To our heart._

_But still._

_It is_

_Never the end . . ._

* * *

><p><strong>And that's it! ^^ Funn stuffff. Thank you for reading! Leave a review if you feel so inclined. Thanks again!<strong>

**~ ThroughTheGalaxies**


End file.
